Air battle evens out today with larry losing ten Sally and 3 Oscar offset by the loss of just one Hurricane. Still the damage is rising at Rangoon and if I don't get a respite soon, it may become untenable for a/c. If that happens, I will have no choice but to run for it.

CV Enterprise has sortied for the SoPac. Lexington is only about a week away. Saratoga is fast approaching the Bay area.

I get the breather I wanted at Rangoon. Runway 43, Service 34. Its still a razor's edge here but if I get a couple more days of respite, it may be ok. IJA has landed at Surigao and suffers horrible disablements - the invasion bonus is indeed long gone. The 6th marine RGT (with Brett Castlebury) has sailed for Hilo to unite the 2nd Marine Division. The 27th ID and 164th Inf RGT plues four BF and a Air HQ are loading at San Diego for eventually Noumea.

CV Enterprise in on her way back to the SoPac as is CV Hornet. CV Saratoga arrived SF on the 2nd and will go to Alameda for upgrade. CV Lexington will be ready in nine days. CV Yorktown is three days out of San Diego for her refit. So in rough three weeks I will have all five carriers upgraded and ready for action. Oh, and TBFs are now being produced; so one of the two CV's just arriving at WCUSA will likely take new TB back with her (perhaps both)

With all this action, I hope to be in a place by 1 June to start minor offensive actions

Larry opts for sweeps over Rangoon today and achieves a 2:1 loss ratio in his favor. There are now five IJA units at Pegu, so I pulled the a/c out. Weakening Rangoon a bit also as far as AS strength. There are at least 22 IJA units approaching from the East. No sense in letting units die in place for no real gain. I sent a BF to Prome which should help me get the damaged FS out of Rangoon when the time comes.

There were five dud TT attacks today by USN Fleet subs. The last one was the hardest. Still nice to know where Sho is at the moment. I suspect this is a precursor to a Java invasion.

Again, another turn with lots of dud TT. My one working torpedo was fired by my old friend Trusty. One fewere I-Boat to worry about.

IJA does a BOMB Attack at Pegu and has a base AS advatage of 1100 to 330. Heres hoping that supplies will need a few days to trickle in. I just need Pegu to hold for two days while I evacuate Rangoon. As bad as that AS advantage is, there are no fewer than 15 additional units inbound to Pegu. Larry brought the house in Burma it appears. Come on Monsoon, don't fail me now.

Remember that even if they block the rail line east of Rangoon, units can rail to Prome. From there British units can strat-road move up to the next rail station, while the commonwealth units will have to change to move mode and go on foot.

Remember that even if they block the rail line east of Rangoon, units can rail to Prome. From there British units can strat-road move up to the next rail station, while the commonwealth units will have to change to move mode and go on foot.

That is exactly what I am doing. I am railing three BF and the two BGDs that recombine into a full ID to Prome. From there they will move by road to Magwe where they will hopefull be air lifted out to the Bengal Region. All that is dependent on how fast the IJA pushes past Pegu and Rangoon proper. I am not sure. I am really surprised how many units Larry brought here considering all of the DEI west of Sumatra and south of Kendari is still mine.

If he tarries much longer, I may reinforce Timor. Problem with that is that there are Netties at Kendari.

The first attack at Pegu comes off 1 to 1. I suffer 600 casualties to Larry's 400. A dispropotionate number of my losses were destroyed squads. The BF has arrived at Prome. I now have a way to get any damage Aa/c at Rangoon out.

More dud TT attacks this turn. At least I can say my subs are in the right locales.

I forget to mention, Larry invaded/occupied Lae about a week ago. The rest of the PNG bases have been occupied since then.

A slow turn. Only action of note is another Deliberate attack at Pegu which again came off 1 to 1. Unfortunately I suffered 2300 casualties to Larrys 200. The base should fall next turn. One BGD is free of Rangoon. A second will depart next turn. Once those two units are safe up north (if that happens), I will begin the mad rush with everybody else. Also Larry broke one unit off and moved it to Toungoo. I have a small BTN of troops there. If they get routed. All of Burma will collapse.

CV Yorktown began her upgrade this turn. She is my last carrier to enter her April upgrade

Pegu falls and the Burma Div is creamed. I have two BGDs and two BF at Prome. The RAF is pulled out. I left two sq of AVG in place as their withdraw date is approaching. Prolly pull them as soon as the IJA arrives. Toungoo held against an ARM RGT (barely) Two more units are approaching. I fear this is about to turn into a rout. I have four sq of transports moved up to Chittagong. As soon as the units start arriving at Magwe, they will begin the evacuation

This operation is the best organized Larry has pulled off thus far. He not only brought enough but brought enough to overwhelm the defense. Cudos to my opponent on this one.

Last little bit of troops just don't want to unload at Ramree Island. I have a BF only there right now and want to get some infantry in there ASAP. ENG unloading at Exmouth. This base will begin the process og being fully developed as soon as every one is ashore.

A bad day. Toungoo fell to a two ARM RGT Assault. Larry put another armor unit between Rangoon and Prome so no more STRAT move out of Rangoon. I ordered all a/c out of Burma. The roofs caving in and I don't want anybody getting caught under it when it finally collapses.

I had sortied the last two RNN CLs to Balikpapan two turns ago. The only ran afoul of a few MTB and only hit one. The Netties found them this turn adn they are both sunk.

A very quiet turn. The IJA has arrived at Chuhsien with five units. I have a base AS of 975 behind level three forts but supplies are very short. Larry continues to poke around China looking for a soft spot.

Quiet in Burma.

Something odd happened. The IJA had landed two RGT at Cebu. This is the only place where I still have supplies in the PI. Thinking the units might be highly disrupted, I ordered the Filipino ID to shock attack. Nothing happend. When I opened the turn file, the IJA is gone. I asked Larry if he had evacuated. I am concerned we may have hit some sort of game glitch. BTW we are still using q6 I beleive.

Quiet turn. The IJA units at Chuhsien only have a base AS of 275 vs mine of 975. However, I am very short on supplies.

Larry varified that the units landed at Cebu were indeed evacuated (Whew) Seems the disruption was so high he was afraid they might get destroyed. Very happy we hadn't hit a game glitch

Retreat in Burma is proceeding. The 16th Indian Div is beginning to be lifted out this turn.

VF-42 on USS Yorktown upgrades to F4f-4 - the last CV unit to make that jump. There are 12 TBF in the pool. Lexington is due out of upgrade in 2 days. Likely I will send her with TBD. Yorktown and Saratoga should sail with TBF. Conversely, I might send Hornet and/or Enterprise to Auckland and have them upgrade their VT first.

* IJN SCTF is in the Java Sea. Dutch AF bombs it to no avail * IJA arrives at vacant Oosthaven. Likely to be occupied next turn meaning the troops retreating from Benkholen are now cut off * IJA increase strength at Chuhsien but still trails the Chinese by greater than a 1:2 margin in base AS * IJA has two INF RGT at Sabang slowly grinding the Dutch defnders down * IJA paras remain at Padang * Sub I-4 has been having a field day NE of Hiva Oa. My ASW forces are unable to deter it * the 32nd ID is on its way to Oz. * 8th PG arrives Sydney next turn. More BFs are right behind the planes * Exmouth goes to Level 1 Port. All troops now unloaded * Engineers have arrived at Unmak Island.

For the third time IJN carriers raid Colombo. I only lost a small number of AMc, ML, and HDML. The Japanese Air Groups are trashed by the RAF. Cursor intel is once again useless as to the composition of the CVTF. I watched the combat replay twice and only detected Akagi and Kaga air groups in the attack, but I suspect that is not very reliable. The RAF scrambled far more fighters in the second attack than the first. Again, the raid is heavily weighted with TB.

The RN CVs are at Madras. I ordered them to sea to take up a position just SE of Ceylon. I suspect the IJN will withdraw, but if they don't, the RN may be able to penetrat the CAP. If there are indeed two IJN carriers, air losses indicate half of their fighters are gone as well as the bulk of two TB squadrons. Assuming an extra TB squadron is aboard (based on the raid composition), I figure the IJN has at best 30 Zeroes, 18 Vals, and 25 Kates. Still a formidible force to be sure, but I am willing to scarifice a RN carrier or two for a chance at crippling one or two IJN carriers in return.

Ok so I chickened out. The cursor intel is likely wrong. Either the a/c numbers are overstated or there are three carriers vice two. I think the a/c numbers are what is the most likley error but I don't want to risk the carrier count being wrong. Just doing the math tells me Akagi + Kaga combined can hold 162 airframes. If the numbers from last turn are correct, that means 108 a/c remain. If larry overloaded the flight decks to the max amount to have without decreased flight ops there could be an additional 16 a/c. Now thats all conjecture but I don't think my three RN CVs could handle even the 108 a/c;ergo, I retreat.

Only other action is that IJA has arrived at Rangoon with five units. I suspect he will hold off on attacking until the remainder or the stack arrives.

One thing I did this turn was look over the map to scrounge up some fighters for Noumea. Unfortunately all I have is about seven VMF spread between PH and the WC. So Either I weaken currently held positions or just settle for those units. Problem is they all need F4F-4 for upgrade. I used all those up on upgrading the VFs. Will take a while to build up the pool. I looked at the reinforcement cue and there is not a lot of help coming in that department for another three or four months. I could weaken PH a bit to augment the FS. The 300 plus fighters I have there is probably overkill

I am officially annoyed. You can see from the image that a convoy got jumped at Unmak Island. There is a CVE based TF off to the south plus at least one additional SCTF. Larry landed at Amchitka Island which he will take this comming turn. I never pay that much to NoPac this early in the game. All the ships were sunk in my TF. There were an odd collection of very short ranged xAP plus some AM and PC. Fortuantely the troops they were transporting had all already unloaded. This is now going to force me to pay attention to this section of the map.

This annoys me because Larry still hasn't landed on java, Timor or any points in between. If this goes on much longer, I may move a large force to timor that may make it almost impossible to take. I have 32nd ID in Oz now and another ID inbound (40th). The 41st ID should be released in two more turns. If I move all that force into the DEI. It become very hard for Larry to disloadge it. If he doesn't move soon, he may regret it.

The IJN Carriers withdraw from the NoPac. The AMC is still chasing convoys around but hasn't hit any. I have a INF RGT assigned to NoPac. I think I may use APDs to try to move it to Adak. The is assuming the Japanese Row Boat Corps doesn't take it first. Cursor intel say four units, 8k troops at Amchitka now.

Next turn I finally will have enough PP to free up the 41st ID. It is at San Diego in Strat mode so can be sent to Oz immediately.

Three large BF and two AA units unloading at Sydney. They will be sent to Cairns to build that base up.

The 1st Burma Div will move to Prome next turn. From there it will go to Magwe then be lifted out. I saved it for two reason: it is trashed and it does not withdraw. The 16th Ind BGD is almost all at Chittagong now. The Gurka BGD goes next.

I now have two CVs in the SoPac with a third on the way. Saratoga and Yorktown are still about two weeks away from being out of the yard.

An IJN CVTF has appear SW of the Adaman Islands. It is safe to assume they are chasing the RN CVTF. There is 14 hexes between the two forces. Even at Full Speed, they could at best make up 5 hexes. The RN will make port at Madras next turn. There are plent of LBA fighters there to protect them.

IJA attempted another Deliberate Attack at Rangoon which come off at 1 to 2, cost the IJA 1800 casualties vice 1500 for the Allies. More importantly an additional 41 IJA Engineer squads were destroyed. The IJA Armored spearhead is now just one hex away from Meiktila (SP?) Rest of the units including almost all the BF are getting clear.

A RNN sub attacked a TF just north of the Makassar Straits. Could this be the Java invasion? I included as much of the theater as I could on the image to give my readers an idea how little Larry has conquered thus far.

Also was prerusing the intel reports and got some nuggets. First BB Hyuga and CA Kinugasa are both listed as sunk now for over two months. Second, sad to say the AVG version of Greg Boyington is KIA (died fighting over Rangoon with two kills) Thats okay because he is coming back in the USMC version - odd, that sounds vaguely familiar

The above mentioned TF passes over no fewere than three Allied subs with no attacks and is now in the Java Sea between Bandjermasin and Soerabaja. I suspect it will hit Bandjermasin next turn.

IJA tries a Deliberate attack at Chuhsien which comes off 1:2 and costs the Japanese 1900 casualties offset by 1200 Allied. If I had some supply in this hex, it would probably be a stalemate with present forces. Without supply, the Chinese defense will like crumble soon. I-Boat off Auckland again sinks two xAK. I-Boat and possible SSX at Sydney harassed by Allied ASW. I-boat previously seen off Perth is gone - that boat may have been roughed up by LBA ASW.

Busy turn. IJN CVTF is spotted ENE of Java. My PT boats intercepted a TF just south of Bandjermasin. Not much damage to the transports but the TF retreated from combat towards Balikpapan. A Falcon FB group put one 50 kg Bomb into an AK also (The Dutch finally hit something but its with a louse 50 kg bomb!!!) There is a third TF west of Soerabaja. Suspect this is a SCTF.

NE of Oosthaven, the handwritin is on the wall for my isolated stack. Deliberate attack causes 300 casualties. At Rangoon another Deliberate attack at Rangoon. Forts are reduced but another "ouch" moment for IJA engineers.

The unidentified TF is a MSW TF which arrives at Semerang this turn. It tangles with a RNN PT Boat TF which only results in me losing two PTs. Dozens of Dutch Matin bombers sortie and miss. The Falcon Sq at Soerobaja gets two more 50 kg hits. At least one Japanese ship sinks this turn. An IJN SCTF based around two BBs bombards Bandjermasin and the net result is the BF there is DESTROYED!!!!!!!!. That is a first for me where a Naval Bombardment elminates a unit.

Elswhere on the map, TF leaves Sydney to pick up two RGT of America and a Tank BTNl. The last RGT plus 27th ID is about a week out of Auckland. I should have three CVs to escort this group into Noumea. Now that I am not saving PP to free up the 41st ID, I am able to free two CB and a BF this turn. The CBs go south while the BF will eventually head to Unmak Island. I will use the two remaining CVs that are at the WC to escort the BF and some infantry up to the NoPac.

I set my first offensive objective today as 2nd Marine Div (with CPT Brett Castlebury) is set to Renell Island as its new target. Before that, I pan to occupy and build up the New Hebrides and likely Ndeni

IJA comes ashore at Semerang. Lots of disablements on the combat report. Two addition TFs with transports are approaching. No idea of what the final force will look like as of yet. There were nearly 50 sorties by Martin bombers today for no hits. PG Isabell died an honorable death trying to interfere.

USS Salmon found a working torpedo and hig a big tanker off Balikpapan. Likely will make port safely. Exmoth is approaching a Level 2 Port which should allow me to operate subs there effectively.

The Gurka BGD is nearly lifted out of Magwe. The evacuation process went nearly flawlessly. An IJA ARM unit has arrived at Prome cutting the Prome-Magwe Road. All other units will have to fight their way out. All the BF have made it to the safety of NE Burma. Should not lose any of those precious units.

The Dutch AF impales itself against the IJN CVTF. One attack had 30 Martin bombers go in for no hits!. No attacks at all against the invasion force. Interestingly, the CVTF is made up of four CVL plus one or two CVs. Where are the rest of the IJN CVS?

Semerang falls. My PT boats did put a TT into a IJN Cl but that is all. My Dutch stack NE of Oosthaven retreated (????) Huh, The Japanese hold all the bases in southern Sumatra. How did these guys find a retreat path. Must be hexside control.

If that weren't bad enough, Rangoon Falls under a shock attack and Prome falls to the Imp Guards. This effectively traps the 1st Burma Div and 4 Ind BGDs that were holding Rangoon. Will try to bushwhack them out but not keeping my hopes up. The Gurka BGD has been lifted out except for one ENG Veh and eight 18 pd guns. The fragment will try to get out across country.

The turn starts with SS Shark attempting to hit a DD in a REPL TF. The TT fail to detonate and Shark suffers moderate damage. I-121 was roughed up by a RN DD off Diamond Harbor. One hit was penetrating and gave an internal explosion critical message. I suspect the sub is a goner.

The Dutch AF continues to try to interfere with landings on Java. They didn't go after the CVTF this turn instead forcusing on a SCTF with two BBs in it. No hits, lots of damaged Dutch a/c. I think the total sorties off Java was apparoachign 70 attack aircraft. I got 4 50 kg hits on the Japanese LSD which has heavy fires. Two xAP also got hit. A RNN sub put four TT into a large xAP at Semerang. I believe this ship sunk. Djakarta was occupied.

Ships moving into position to move a stout force to Noumea. CV Saratoga will leave the yard in five days. She will be paired with Yorktown to escort reinforcements to the Dutch Harbor/Unmak area